


Assumptions

by Zibomotua



Series: Time [4]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Gen, Hux is still emotionally constipated, M/M, but it looks like Ben found the laxative
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2016-01-17
Packaged: 2018-05-14 13:55:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5746297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zibomotua/pseuds/Zibomotua
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He guessed, in retrospect, it wasn't a good time to accidentally propose to your lover in front of your long lost mother when there were several blasters pointed at your back and you have no idea what your near future looks like.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Assumptions

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so i'm late to the name party but I like the widely accepted theory that Hux is named after his dad but I also love Thrawn so i just changed it to be his middle name. boop. Also this is totally inspired by ImperialRemnant's Love Can Ignite the Stars. Go read it!!!!   
> This is set right after Out of My Mind.

Hux doesn't quite know how to fall apart. He's always relied on his impeccable logic and order to suppress his emotions. He stays upstairs while Kylo, now Ben, has his arm cauterized. He shares some forced small talk with Poe but mostly he just sits there, incapable of thinking about what the future now holds for him. He doesn't even try. Instead he focuses on the beeps and clangs of the ship, to Finn and Poe's playful banter, to the breathing of the now unconscious Ben, safe from bleeding out to death. 

Hyperspace is not as instantaneous as one is led to believe. with Rey stabilized and contact made with their medical base, they plot a course to a further system where she can receive advanced treatment and limb replacement. Total time left in space is ironically 20 hours. 

They had been placed in a locked sleeping quarter. Hux sits at Ben’s side and just stares at the wall, reading and rereading all of the informational warning stickers that coat the riveted steel plates. Ben stirs, Hux focuses on his face. Ben looks at his arm, and up at Hux, eyes brimming with tears. He starts to tear up and gropes at the air in Hux’s direction. Hux slowly stands, tenderly picking up Ben's shoulders. He sits and replaces Ben’s head, now in his lap.

Hux isn't much for showing affection in the form of touch. He’d much rather show it in the form of working hard in the name of the one who has stolen his attention. Now there was no work left to do, there was no Order, there was nothing left in his life but this damaged, hurting man and Hux would do anything to help alleviate that pain.

He's done this a few times on the base, when ‘Kylo’ became overwhelmed with his training. He has always been the polar opposite of Hux. Emotional where Hux was logical, introspective where Hux loved the sound of his own voice, giving motivational speeches almost too often.

Ben cries silently for a while. All he knows is Hux, and he knows their lives are both over. They lost. They've made the wrong choices. Good has won out again. But in the end, they still had each other. At least for this moment they can share their pain of defeat together, before they touch down and hopefully just get executed. 

Ben rolls so his head faces up at Hux. He looks like he’s gathering his thoughts,but then he just cries again. Hux just rubs his arm, knowing nothing else about how to comfort. Ben slows again and tries to get out some garbled words about regret and pain but his voice is broken and he sobs too hard to understand. Hux tries to put together the sentence but he chuckles, then he breaks out into full on hearty laughter, unable to stop himself. he laughs. Ben stops and he sits up next to Hux. Hux looks at Ben, eyes wild with giddiness. 

“How can you have so many tears left in you? How are you not dehydrated yet?!” Hux says with sincere fondness, patting a horrified Ben on the shoulder.

Ben stares, his face going through a range of emotions. Shock, anger and hurt all flash across his features. 

Hux’s laughter starts to die down and he opens his eyes to stare right into Ben’s, his face holds an emotion Ben has never seen grace the surface before. It’s affection. It's candid, genuine, heartfelt affection and it’s directed nowhere but Ben. Hux pulls Ben close and hugs him tightly, the first real display of affection he's ever shown. If Ben had known that was all it took to get Hux to open up, he would have destroyed The First Order months ago.

\---

The small ship touched down at the farthest end of the resistance airstrip, a crowd already gathered. Hux could see a few medics surrounding a mobile station meant for Rey. Hux turned from the small viewport to take Ben’s hand in his own. Knowing this was the last few seconds of peace for the two of them, he kissed Ben gently but fast, not wishing to dwell on a potential goodbye. 

When the doors opened, Hux and Ben were standing side by side, tattered clothes tidied up, heads held high with as much dignity as two misguided, mass-murderers in love could possess.

They were both very surprised when instead of being handled rough by the guards, they were taken gently and guided to the ship’s opening, where a teary General Organa awaited to see the mess of what had become of her foolish son. 

The reunion was pretty cliche in Hux’s book. Ben held it together admirably until he felt the loving touch against his cheek and the soft words spoken.

“Rey told me everything.” 

Leia’s voice was heavy with forgiveness. Hux zoned out for a moment while the two cried in a loving embrace. He may have been warming up to this, but he was in no way gung ho about it. He snapped back when he heard her speak again.

“Ben, dear, please introduce me to your companion. ” Leia was looking at him with a gentle but emotionless expression.

“General Organa, It is an honor. Your strategic genius is rivaled by few.” Hux spoke, formally, falling back upon his polite Imperial upbringing.

“You flatter” she says with a small momentary twitch of her lips, impressed.

“Mother,” Ben says, moving slowly to Hux’s side, aware of the blasters poised if they were to show any sign of trouble. “This is my Life-Mate, General Brendol Thrawn Hux the Second.” 

Hux forgot how to breathe. “Excuse me?!” He immediately voiced.

“Sorry, I guess i just assumed-” Ben tripped over his own words as he spoke softly into Hux's his ear.

“Assumed what?! What time would he have to be mated?!” Hux whisper-yelled back.

“I mean, now is a different time, we could-”

“You want to marry me?” Hux cut him off again, still fighting hard to grasp at this huge bender he’d just been taken on.

“Wasn’t that obvious?” Ben reflected on his choice of words, his choice on timing. He guessed, in retrospect, it wasn't a good time to accidentally propose to your lover in front of your long lost mother when there were several blasters pointed at your back and you have no idea what your near future looks like. Both were silent until Leia decided to break up the tension.

“Come, dear, there is much that must be done swiftly if you are to redeem yourself.” She turned to walk but hesitated when no one budged. “I mean both of you” she adds forcefully now walking away.

"But first, the medical center." She shouts over a landing ship, "There is a second limb replacement specialist on standby waiting for you, Ben."

\---

They were both cuffed now, sitting in a debriefing meeting. Leia is going over the statements they both must give as well as the actions they must commit to prove their atonement when Hux spoke almost too softly to hear.

“I accept by the way. In case it wasn’t obvious.” 

Ben showed no sign that he had heard or understood him. Hux began to panic, maybe it had all been for show? He opened his mouth to verbalize his fears, but he felt the small touch of Ben’s knee against his and saw the growing smile on the other’s face. It looked goofy and Hux once again found himself finding it endearing. He felt his own lips turn up and didn’t bother to quell it. Maybe, just maybe, they could be ok. Together they could have their own future. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, if you love this, let me know. I feed off your approval. It's totally healthy. just please address all love letters to my trash can. I live there. P.s. I wrote the smut for right after the first chapter of Out of My Mind. It's coming. I'm just editing it.


End file.
